Hellacious property taxes in sanctuary city Fort Worth. Got to pay for those illegals bennies, garbage police and that international gay advocate.
Take a look at Pearland, Texas. Great smaller area south of Houston down 288. Pretty conservative and better public schools. Easy to get to the city from there and nowhere near I-10. Very family oriented.
The Highland Park area of Dallas is quite nice.
The neighbors can be tad snooty though.
Do you play Polo?
Almost any place in North Texas would be a great place to relocate... But Fort Worth is an especially fine place to be... Calm - Cool and Collected describes the greater Fort Worth area... lots of business opportunities ... the oil and mostly natural gas business is booming ... Texas is business diverse - business friendly ... no income tax, banking, electronics / computers, oil/gas, and about a hundred more areas... Come visit - and you will see...
We moved to Northeast Texas (20 minutes north of Dallas) in 09. We thought about Austin but I think the humidity there is worse. We are in the midst of one of the hottest summers in history. We are now at 30 straight days of triple digits. The record is 42 set in the summer of hell, 1980.
And this week, it will be close to 110 and over 100 every day. Summers are hot, be prepared but if you have AC and most do, and we put in a pool, and restaurants are always cool if not cold, just learn to deal with it.
Then the heat leaves in the fall. It doesn’t linger. And fall is beautiful and winter is too, although cold. And springtime is lovely.
The Dallas Metroplex, especially North Dallas is booming. Frisco, McKinney, Allen, all within 20 minutes of downtown and so many people coming in. People with capital and money because they are tired of taxes in CA and other states. The growth and building is just booming.
And of course IN N OUT Burger chose the Dallas Metro Plex to begin their operations, open locations and build their meat processing plant.
I say this with confidence, the Stewart Peninsula in a little city called “The Colony” has some absolutely beautiful homes. Easily , if in CA , Orange County, homes that would go for close to $ 1 million. They overlook the big Lake, Lake Lewisville and they are beautiful. I live in the Stewart Peninsula and we were able to get a nice 4 bedroom, single story near the lake and we love it. But the homes up the street in a different HOA are just beautiful. And for the money, a better value than Plano and or McKinney which are growing like crazy. And I hear LIttle Elm has some beautiful homes.
So Frisco, McKinney, Plano, are growing and yes it’s North Dallas, not downtown or old town or uptown but I think yhou will like what you see. Check out Allen too. And even Fairview. Good luck.
As an aside, let’s talk climate for a moment. Most people think Texas = hot and that’s true in the summer but you can have different types of heat in the summer and different types of cold in the winter. The closer you are to the Gulf Coast, the more likely you are to have humidity which can be very sticky in the summer. The further west you go, the more dry the air will be which tends to make for cooler winters. The further north you go, the more possibility of occasional snow or ice conditions.
I do advise to live in the adjacent county to a major city than to live in the county of that city itself since most are governed by liberals. The neighboring counties tend to be more conservative with better law enforcement.
Williamson County, north of Austin, has long been a jewel but it is being overrun now with Yankees fleeing the coasts.
Fort Bend County, west of Houston, is rapidly growing and has a lot of plusses but a few minuses. Fort Worth is good as a neighbor to Dallas but I’d really enjoyed Denton County (where I-35 merges back together) as a great place with quick access to both cities.
I haven’t spent a lot of time in the San Antonio area but Comal County sounds like it would be a good one. The further south you go, the more leary I am of illegals and the crime they attract.
But do your research because there is plenty of variety. There’s bound to be a place for you but you’ll want to look around a bit for the best fit.
And as for getting yourself through the crappy economy, Texas has no state income tax and a good job base but there are a lot of folks down here ready to split off from the U.S. all together if it looks like it is about to go under.
I live in Frisco, just north of Dallas - the schools are excellent. (FYI: I defected from the people’s republic of Konnecticut 20 years ago and have never looked back - I love Texas!)
Texas would LOVE to welcome you and your family!
In Houston, the best suburbs to live in are The Woodlands and Sugarland. Just south of The Woodlands, a division of ExxonMobil will open a major office building in 2014, which will boost an already vibrant economy. Check out http://www.thewoodlands.com for more information.
Dallas has some nice areas also — Plano and Richardson are two cities that come to mind.
So come on down, and get ready for some sweet living, pardner!
Also, you may want to check out the video about The Woodlands at http://www.thewoodlands.com/woodlands/story.html
Traffic is absolutely evil on I-35 through town, and MoPac and 360 are parking lots too. Fortunately, bicycling is fantastic and can be accomplished year-round. Central TX generally has the best overall climate whereas Houston's awful year-round humidity and heat will keep you in a/c 99% of the time, and north TX has too many ice days relative to the rest of the State.
I agree with those who are pushing San Antonio, particularly north San Antonio west of I-35 and closer to US 281. Motorcycling country at its TX best. I spent twenty years in the D/FW area and have had plenty of opportunities to come back to familiar friends and family but prefer central TX. Twenty minutes from wherever you are in Austin and you are no longer in an urban area. An hour from anywhere in Houston or D/FW and you are still surrounded by strip malls, fast food joints and high density housing developments.
Arlington, South Lake, Coppell, McKinney, Prosper or Keller are your best D/FW suburbs. The Woodlands, Katy, Champion or Sugar land are Houston's best offerings, north-west San Antonio and anything north or west of Austin is good too.
Though I want to build my TEOTWAWKI retreat in the Llano/Fredricksburg/Kerrville area. :)
San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth are within driving distance if you want more culture than Austin has to offer.
The heat is a little extreme right now but even then, taxes and unemployment are as low as you can get in the US.
And believe it or not, we conservative do live here in Austin and we are growing.
So, I’ve lived in the North Dallas area for the past 20+ years, and you couldn’t pay me to live in any of the other major metros, except maybe Ft. Worth, which is technically still part of the Dallas metroplex. Houston-—dirty, humid, Katrina evacuees abound! San Antonio—aside from the tourist trap of the Riverwalk, I have found the city to also be dirty, sprawling, poorly zoned and difficult to navigate. Austin—liberal. Enough said.
Dallas has excellent mass transit (DART), theater/music/live entertainment EVERYWHERE, great shopping, more restaurants per capita than any other Texas city (I believe), and new growth in virtually every area of the metroplex. Dallas/Ft. Worth has something for everyone. If you like urban life, then there’s countless areas around the city to buy a loft or townhome in an urban setting. Want some land? Virtually all corners of the metroplex have something available, all within 30 minutes of the cities’ central business districts. That being said, the central business districts are certainly not the only areas doing booming business in the DFW metroplex anymore—so many areas are thriving and growing.
Housing is cheap. I’d like to sell my house, if you need a big one (Richardson School district, 5 br, 3 1/2 bath, gameroom, 2 living/dining areas, pool, creek lot, 2 minutes to major highway (George Bush Tollway), 5 minutes to 75, 4,000 sf, $300,000)
Welcome to Texas!
Houston - too big, too much humidity, ridiculous traffic, Mexico City style drivers, sanctuary city, no zoning laws, high pollution
Austin - poor infrastructure, greenies, flamelib professors, liberal to the core, traffic nightmare; party animal heaven, but Hook’em
Dallas - uppity, too cold in winter, now taken over by libs in govt., you’re just an ant in the anthill.
San Antonio - traffic starting to rival Houston; too much turista, cosmopolitan wannabe city, getting too big, lost itself
El Paso - Welcome to Juarez
Corpus - hurricane alley; minority power increasing
Fort Worth - too far north, but otherwise okay.
Waco - right sized city, but has Demcrap history; Baptists in control which can be good or bad depending on your thoughts.
Beaumont - disclaimer (I live there); right sized city; one of top three best reps in state (Poe); no severe traffic problems; minority dictatorship in control of school district; hurricane alley (two big ones in last six years); most rain in state; highest humidity in state; good REAL country and cajun music; crawfish and best seafood around.
Abilene/Amarillo/Odessa/Midland/Lubbock - Plains, dustbowl, blue northers colder than a witches tit; good people though.
And now that I’ve given you Fedor’s Texas I recommend:
Texas Hill Country (Kerrville, Junction, Fredricksburg. Llano), Alpine, Big Bend Country or cities with population between 50k and 100k west and North of SA excluding border cities. This is a one time free advice only.
I am shocked that no one mentioned “hornytoads” and the ever popular Texas TittyTwisters.
Really, get in TX, you will not be sorry.